Our Lady Peace
Gravity
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"I hate myself for begging/ I hate myself for staying/ I hate myself for listening to you," Raine Maida sings on "Do You Like It," just one of ten scathing songs from Our Lady Peace's fifth studio Lp, Gravity. Although the pain and memories of this strung out love affair are as palpable as the bang bang guitars and syrup thick bass rhythms, the song manages to fuse both aggression and sensitivity into the mix. It's a tough combination but it's one of the reasons why this band is one of the finest hard rock outfits of the past decade.

To record this disc the guys headed from their home in Toronto, Canada, to producer Bob Rock's studio in Hawaii. It was there that they teamed up for the first sessions with their new guitarist Steve Mazur. The infusion of new energy jolted the band into a creative maelstrom. What emerged was pure sonic power. Surrounded and inspired by the actual guitars that Rock used to record Metallica and the Cult, OLP merged its transcendent spirituality with depth tones, distortion and subversive studio techniques.

As usual, Maida tackles complex and troubling aspects of the human experience in his lyrics. On "Innocent" the singer examines the internal terrors of two stereotypical young people- a bored young man with no way out of his life and a teenage girl who loathes herself and her body. The album's first single, "Somewhere Out There," then focuses on a difficult relationship. Against a backbeat of gritty guitars and a symphonic presence, the singer growls out the longing of the love he shared with the purple haired girl.

While much of this disc slams the decibels and demands your attention, OLP also use dynamics and deception to deliver its message. The static surge of space guitars on "Not Enough" introduces wrought iron rhythms that complete the track. Then Maida's questions haunt his listeners on "Sell My Soul," a track that tries to understand the decay of yet another relationship.

While Gravity may be a little too aggressive for some old fans of the band, others will surely rejoice at the volume and sheer focus of the songs on this disc. So spin up the stereo and feel the gravity.

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